The European Union will implement further sanctions on Belarus in response to the forced landing of a Ryanair flight and subsequent arrest of journalist Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend, Sofia Sapega, Reuters said in a June 16 report. The new wave of sanctions will include seven individuals linked to the Belarus aviation industry, according to a European diplomat. A fourth package of sanctions related to Belarus' 2020 election was already being prepared when the forced landing took place.

Eighteen House members, led by Reps. Maria Salazar, R-Fla., and Tom Malinowski, D-N.J., introduced the Nicaragua Free Trade Review Act, which requires the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to review Nicaragua's compliance with the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) within 60 days of the bill becoming law. “Under Daniel Ortega, Nicaragua has become a land of oppression” Salazar said in a June 17 news release. “Ortega's thugs are jailing political opponents and violently silencing dissenting voices. I've introduced the Nicaragua Free Trade Review Act because trade with the United States is a privilege, not a right. We must show Ortega's regime that they cannot continue repressing the Nicaraguan people while reaping the economic benefits of free trade with the United States.”

The European Parliament is calling for greater sanctions on Belarus following the forced landing of a Ryanair flight and subsequent arrest of journalist Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend, Sofia Sapega. While 88 individuals, including the current president, and seven entities are listed under the EU's Belarus sanctions regime, the EU called for a “fourth package” with sectoral sanctions including a “ban on imports of oil products, potash fertilisers, metal products and wood and wood products,” a June 10 resolution said. The Parliament also underscored the need to sanction all relevant state-run enterprises helping the Belarusian regime through foreign exchange revenue and to ramp up efforts to combat Belarusian cigarette smuggling, which is a large source of revenue for the current regime, the resolution said.

Smith Bagley asked the FCC for a six-month extension of the Lifeline rule waiver scheduled to expire June 30, said a petition posted Monday in docket 11-42 (see 2102250022). The provider said its 3,000 Lifeline subscribers on tribal lands may be de-enrolled during the second half of 2021 if recertification rules go into effect and would be unable to re-enroll "for several more months" due to COVID-19-related travel restrictions.

Conexon is willing to default on winning Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction bids in some areas and withdraw its pending eligible telecom carrier designation if the FCC waives default requirements and penalties, said a petition posted Wednesday in docket 19-126. Conexon said the Southern Ute Indian Tribe and Ute Mountain Ute Tribe expressed concerns that the census blocks Conexon won may preclude the tribes from receiving NTIA funding to build a fixed wireless broadband network using 2.5 GHz.

Hogan Lovells adds technology-focused IP litigator Nitin Gambhir from Polsinelli as partner-Intellectual Property, Media and Technology practice; he's representing clients in computer networking, telecom, smartphones, memory controllers, entertainment, gaming and internet systems ... Univision Communications hires from Disney+ MC Cerda as the broadcaster’s first executive vice president-product and engineering, streaming ... Disney’s ESPN promotes Burke Magnus to president-programming and original content.

Hogan Lovells adds technology-focused IP litigator Nitin Gambhir from Polsinelli as partner-Intellectual Property, Media and Technology practice; he's representing clients in computer networking, telecom, smartphones, memory controllers, entertainment, gaming and internet systems ... Univision Communications hires from Disney+ MC Cerda as the broadcaster’s first executive vice president-product and engineering, streaming ... Disney’s ESPN promotes Burke Magnus to president-programming and original content.

The United Kingdom agreed in principle to a trade deal with Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, the U.K.'s Department for International Trade announced in a June 4 news release. The deal includes a substantial digital trade chapter and cuts tariffs on various British food products. Tariffs in Norway as high as 277% will be slashed for products such as “West Country Farmhouse Cheddar, Orkney Scottish Island Cheddar, Traditional Welsh Caerphilly, and Yorkshire Wensleydale cheese,” along with pork, poultry and Scotch whisky, the release said. The agreement also contains a new government procurement section permitting British companies to bid on government contracts worth up to 200 million pounds in the other three nations.

Belarusian carriers will no longer be allowed to fly through European Union airspace nor access EU airports, in response to the forced landing of a Ryanair flight in Minsk on May 23, the European Council announced in a June 4 news release. The move marks an escalation of existing council condemnations on Belarus over the arrest and detention by Belarusian authorities of journalist Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend, Sofia Sapega.

Bangladesh will soon require all customs fee payments to be made electronically, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported June 2. The ruling will apply to all fees greater than $23,500 as of July 1 and “regardless of amount” starting Jan. 1 The requirement will apply to fees associated with all the country’s air, sea and land ingress points, HKTDC said. Previously, only larger multinational and domestic companies were required to make electronic payments, which resulted in a mostly cash payment system that led to longer clearance times and added congestion at Bangladesh’s storage depots, the report said.